Ceci Connolly, "joking around", puts water gun to Gore's head - FT

[Mabus]

Found this while looking for some other stuff. Page Six reports what was printed in the Financial Times. Wow!

Toy gun's no fun on gore plane
Posted Fri. Aug. 18, 2000 8:00pm by Page Six
Filed Under Al Gore, Ceci Connolly, Hugh Hefner, Karenna Gore, Loretta Sanchez, New York, Ralph Nader, Tipper, Wyatt

A STUNT by Al Gore's team to lighten the mood on a campaign flight by passing out water pistols to the press backfired when one reporter put the gun to the candidate's head.
According to the Financial Times, the Secret Service was ready to pounce on the Washington Post's Ceci Connolly during last month's flight to North Carolina, where the Gores were taking their vacation.
F.T.'s "Avenue of the Americas" column reports "several witnesses" saw Connolly put her arm around Gore's shoulder and hold the water pistol to his head. "It might have been a joke," says the paper. "But for the Secret Service agents on board, as well as the Gore campaign, there were no smiles."
But Connolly tells PAGE SIX that her water pistol prank was all in good fun. "The Secret Service agents were laughing and Karenna Gore was standing right next to me and thought it was funny," she insists.
"I definitely held a water pistol up to him, but I don't remember if I held it against his head. It was a light-hearted vacation moment. We were all in shorts and they handed out water pistols, bubble wands and little beach toys.
"Karenna was telling us what Al and Tipper like to do on vacation. They like to body surf, read books and play with jigsaw puzzles. His grandson, Wyatt, was making funny faces. If anything, this showed Al Gore in a relaxed, lighthearted moment ... I think this whole story is a little goofy."
Connolly also takes issue with the F.T.'s claim that she, Katharine Seelye of the New York Times and Sandra Sobieraj of the Associated Press - known collectively as the Spice Girls - "can be the most hostile to the campaign, doing little to hide their contempt for the candidate and his team."
"I've been traveling with the vice president for two years and I've been told he thinks I'm tough but fair," Connolly says. "I haven't heard any complaints from his campaign."
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that Playboy Playmates are turning on Gore because he forced the cancellation of Rep. Loretta Sanchez's fundraiser at Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion in L.A.
Neriah Davis, Miss March 1994, fumes, "They've slapped Hef in the face. And they've slapped me too. I take it very personally."
The peeved pin-up said Gore's Playboy diss has made her "really, really mad" and now she plans to vote, "and maybe even campaign," for fringe candidate Ralph Nader.


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